Care.Data Initiative

The Government is planning to download patient data from GP records. The process will begin in Spring 2014 and will happen automatically unless you wish to object. Your information will form part of the care.data project which is a new national initiative developed by NHS England and managed by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC). It is designed to collect patient identifiable data from different healthcare providers such as GPs hospitals and community services and bring it all together in one place.

Information to be extracted will include NHS number, date of birth, postcode and all coded data including weight, smoking, blood pressure, medications, diagnoses etc etc.

The information will be used to help plan services and there are procedures in place to ensure that your details remain anonymous and confidential, but we cannot guarantee this.

We have been asked to inform our patients that this is happening and have been assured that there will also be a national campaign to explain further details.